The fashion industry had its ups and downs in the pandemic, but one category flourished: resale. Resale platforms like Thredup and Vestiaire are seeing astonishing growth—the resale market is growing at a rate 11 times faster than traditional retail and should be worth $84 billion by 2030.
This week, we look at the threads of impact that resale has on the fashion industry.
Stay stylish,
Team NC
🕶️Resale: fashion industry’s new mindset
#TRENDS
Luxury fashion resale takes off in Asia [SCMP]
A fading social stigma - Celebrities such as Crazy Rich Asians actress Fiona Xie are helping turn pre-owned fashion from socially unacceptable to almost collectible. She partnered with the luxury resale site Vestiaire to sell luxury items from her personal wardrobe for charity.
Obstacles in Asian expansion - Product authenticity is a big challenge for Asian resellers, since China, Hong Kong and Singapore account for two-thirds of global counterfeit exports. To combat this, sellers have gotten wise to keep proof of purchase, by saving the original packaging and receipts.
#BUSINESS
Luxury brands reluctant to join resale market boom [WWD]
Not joining the bandwagon - Despite the trend, some luxury brands are reluctant to take ownership of the resale process, fearing that it could cannibalise sales of their full-price products and dent their image of exclusivity. Others are put off by the complexity of implementing circular models, and doubt its financial viability.
Quality control from third parties - Yet most luxury brands that got involved in the secondhand market have done so with the help of a third party. Mytheresa, Mulberry and Alexander McQueen, for instance, have all launched resale pilots this year in partnership with Vestiaire Collective that can help with sustainability and quality control.
#TECH
China is using blockchain to save the resale market [Vogue]
An evolutionary war on counterfeit goods - Luxury reselling platforms, despite their in-house teams of authenticators, have seen an increase in sophisticated counterfeiting technology.
Using blockchain to build trust - As in the West, blockchain technology is seen as a more promising solution in China to increase customer trust. But even as some say that human interventions are still better than a computer’s, Secoo, a Chinese luxury reseller and retailer, is looking at blockchain tech to trace a luxury item’s source to check its authenticity.
🧐 Handpicked reads for the week
- Industry insights: 2021 resale report by Thredup
- Eradicating fast fashion with new tech for resellers
- Raking in $ from reselling sneakers: How a 16-year-old earns $30k a month
- Strategy: Fashion resale startups have more potential than profit
